


Coming Home

by Chameleononplaid



Series: What If Series [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9370961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chameleononplaid/pseuds/Chameleononplaid
Summary: What if Oliver Queen and Sara Lance had killed Slade Wilson and the Amazo never sunk? What if they had a chance to come home from Lian Yu? Quentin Lance tells Felicity the story of Oliver and Sara coming home. When they get back they find life isn't as easy as they pictured and when Oliver meets Felicity Smoak, he finds that his charm doesn't always extend to everyone. This is Part 7 of the What If series.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I am so sorry it has taken me this long to get things typed up and out to you. Life seems to be running at a faster pace now more than ever and I am trying to find the time to fit everything in. And sometimes, my typing and editing are the ones that take the backseat (okay, most times, as I hate editing and typing, I’d rather be creatively writing). Plus, the new year gifted me the flu and pneumonia. Such fun. A wonderful thank you to my beta, who has had a hard time trying to fit everything in herself, missmeghan666.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. They belong to Arrow and DC Comics.

            Felicity walked out of Oliver’s office at city hall with every intention of heading straight to the new piece of evidence they had collected from the latest criminal they were tracking. It was their only lead thus far as to where they could track him and it might even lead them to finding out what Tobias Church planned.

            “Hey, Felicity.”

            Glancing up, Felicity noticed Mr. Lance coming toward her. “Hi, Captain… I mean Mr. Lance.”          

            “You can call me Quentin, you know,” he said with a smile and it drew one from Felicity. “How’s your mom?”        

           “She’s good.”        

           “Good. Good.” Felicity noticed that Lance seemed nervous. “And she’s still in Vegas, right?”

            Confused, Felicity stared at him for a moment. “She’s here visiting. She said she saw you. You haven’t seen her?”         

            When he shook his head, Felicity felt a part of her stomach drop. “No, but I thought I saw her a few times around town and I…”

            “No.” Felicity pointed at him, punctuating her continued protests. “No. No. NO.” Felicity rubbed at her temple as her head began to ache. This couldn’t be happening. “My father’s a super hacker wanted by the government and who knows what else, because that man couldn’t tell the truth if it stared him in the face. I work with a vigilante. And now, apparently, my mother has decided to become a stalker. Where exactly did my life go wrong?”

            “Probably when you decided to take up with Queen, but that’s just my excuse,” Lance told her with a deprecating laugh. “Where are you off to?”             Felicity pulled out the baggie that held the evidence Oliver had obtained. “I need to scan this for touch DNA or anything else that may give us a lead.”

            “Who is it this time?”

            “No idea. But the guy has ties to Church,” Felicity informed him. “Oliver is determined to track this guy down.”

            “Mind if I tag along?”      

            “Sure.”

            A short time later, Felicity was waiting on results as Lance roamed the lair. “Want to talk about it?”

            Lance stopped short and stared at her. By the look on his face he was startled that she noticed that something was wrong. “Talk about what?”    

            “Whatever’s bothering you? Is it my mom?”           

            “No.” Lance reached up and rubbed his head which he usually did if he wasn’t sure about something. “Sort of.”

            “If it make you feel better, I plan to have an in depth conversation with her about how creepy it is to stalk people.” Felicity shuddered as she remembered the lacrosse player who had stalked her.

            “It’s not that.” Lance grabbed a chair and sat down next to where Felicity perched in her own in front of her precious computers. “Your mom was pretty pissed I hit the bottle again after Laurel’s death.”

            “Can you blame her?”        

            “No. But Laurel was my rock. And now she’s gone and I feel like my life has no purpose.” Lance dropped his head into his hands as he rested them on his knees. Felicity felt the need to comfort him but she knew if she did he might not finish all of what he wanted to say. “How could I tell your mom that I don’t deserve her? I don’t deserve to be loved. I couldn’t keep any of my baby girls safe and I don’t want that for her.” Lance glanced up at her before looking away. “Or for her daughter.”

            Felicity sat there stunned, unable to come up with any words that would lend comfort to the man next to her. Her own father hardly showed the emotional attachment that Lance had in abundance for his progeny. “I’m sure if you tried to tell my mom she’d understand.”

            Lance pained expression met Felicity’s. “That’s it. She does understand but I can’t accept that until I know that I can keep her safe. What if she was in danger? I can’t take a chance that because of what I do, or who I am, that I could lose someone else. Her. Or have her lose you.” He held up his hands is defense. “I know you can take care of yourself. Sara was the same way and look at her. And, sure, Queen would rather die than have something happen to you. But, I can’t do it. I can’t be responsible.”

            “Sounds familiar.” Felicity sighed. _Too familiar._

            “Huh?”

            “I remember Oliver telling me something very similar not all that long ago.”

            Lance rose from his chair and began his pacing again. “Exactly. See where that put you? You ended up in the hospital. In a wheelchair. Your mother was beside herself.”

            “She might have been beside herself but she pulled through it, just like I did. We Smoak women are strong. We have to be.” Felicity stood and faced down her mother’s ex. “I choose to be here. I chose Oliver. Those were my decisions. I wouldn’t change a moment. We don’t have any guarantees. None of us.”

            “Oliver didn’t chose to be shipwrecked and get tortured on Lian Yu, but it happened,” Lance threw back at her.

            “And Sara didn’t choose to be rescued by the League of Assassins, but if she hadn’t she wouldn’t be the strong capable woman that she is today,” Felicity shot back. “It’s in spite of the circumstances that we find our strengths. And in those strengths we find the people who are willing to walk through fire with us.”

            Lance smiled down at her. “How did you get to be so smart?”

            It wasn’t her high IQ that he referred to and Felicity knew that answer. “My mother. The same woman who loves you enough to walk through your tough times at your side. If you let her.”        

            “I wish sometimes that things were different.” Lance sat back down and so did Felicity. “I love Sara and I’ll always love the woman she has become but I wish she came home sooner. Before the League.”

            “She might have had the Amazo not been blown up.”

            Lance’s eyes met Felicity’s. “What?”        

           “I don’t know the whole story but apparently Oliver went to rescue Sara from Slade Wilson back on Lian Yu because he captured her when they were about to get off the island. When he left he told this prisoner he knew to blow up the Amazo if he and Sara didn’t return after an hour.” Felicity turned to check the computers for a reprieve from the difficult conversation, but it was still processing. _No help from there, then._ “He did and Oliver thought Sara had really died that time when she was swept away. Had the ship not blown up, the two of them might have come home after defeating Slade. Which also mean that we wouldn’t have had to deal with any of the Mirakuru soldiers in Starling.”

            “That would have been an interesting reunion.” Lance grimaced and Felicity noticed the numerous emotions pass over his face. “Laurel would have likely killed the two of them. I might have been too relieved to have my baby girl back to care about Oliver, but I can’t be sure. In fact the more I think about it, I can actually picture Laurel’s face…”

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            “I’m not sure returning the Starling is the best idea, Ollie.” Sara stood in front of him in a ball cap that covered her face. “By now our families have to think we died. I told you I wanted my family to remember me the way I was.”

            Oliver reached out for Sara’s hand and pulled her over to his side. “We can do this.”

            “I know we can, but I’m not sure if I want to.”

            “Sara…”

            “Ollie, think about it. Can you really say that by coming back after all this time we won’t cause our families even more pain after the way we have changed? Can we look at them and forget all of the thing we’ve done to survive?” Sara reached into the back pocket of Oliver’s jeans and pulled out the tattered picture of Laurel. “Do you know what this is?”

            “It’s Laurel.”

            “No, it’s not, Ollie. It’s the past.” Sara waved the picture at him and he tried to grab it from her but she refused to hand it over and Oliver refused to have it ripped, so he gave up. “This isn’t Laurel. This is an image of home. A home that doesn’t exist for us anymore because it’s an ideal. That ideal doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe it never did. Not for us.” Sara slammed the picture into Oliver’s chest and he caught it before it could fall to the ground. “We’re broken. In a way, we always were.”

            Oliver couldn’t believe her. He didn’t want to believe her. “How can you…?”

            “We were, Ollie. If we weren’t we would have never gone on the Gambit together. WE sabotaged our lives and I’m not sure we deserve those lives again.”

            Oliver placed the photo back in his pocket carefully and clasped Sara by the shoulders. He had to talk some sense into her before she had him turning away from everything he dreamed about since the day the Gambit sunk. “It’s our family. We can’t just walk away. Where are we supposed to go?”

            “Anatoly offered for us to go with him. Let’s do it. Let’s go explore the world. Be the people we are instead of the people we used to be.” Her blue eyes cut into his. “Please, Ollie.”

            Standing there, Oliver lowered his hands from her shoulders, his own slumping. Sara was right. They’d never be the people who left but he was nowhere near sure of who he was now either. But to just run away? It seemed more cowardly to walk away from the people who loved him without telling them he was alive. People he loved in return. “I can’t.”

            The exasperated look that crossed Sara’s face told him everything he needed to know about how she felt about his decision. “If you need to go, Sara, I won’t stop you. But I can’t.”

            “And I can’t let you go back without me.” Sara squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. “If you do, my father will kill you for sure.”

            Their hands clasped together, gaining strength for the oncoming storm of emotions. Oliver stared down at Sara. “So, who do we tell first?”   

            The decision was taken from both of them the moment they stepped outside the airport’s terminal. A flash hit them, then another. Shouts of Oliver Queen were thrown in their direction. The press had discovered them. Considering it had been over two years since their disappearance, their arrival back in Starling City was bound to be breaking news.

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            “Dad? Dad, you in here?” Laurel called out as she entered the house her father lived in. “The realtor called me again. She said she couldn’t get a hold of you.”

            Laurel found her father slumped over the dining room table. An empty bottle of whiskey was tipped over and his hand was still closed around a glass despite the snores emanating from him.

            With a sigh, Laurel threw the bottle away and placed the glass in the sink before she made some coffee. Her dad was going to need a steaming cup if she had any hope of having a serious conversation with him in regard to the sale of the house.

            Luckily, the new buyers were understanding enough to reschedule the closing until Laurel was able to get back to Starling City from law school. Laurel’s only saving grace was that her new roommate, Johanna, was keeping track of class notes while Laurel was away.

            Her father had been an absolute wreck since her mother left over five months ago. It had been a relief to actually leave for law school. The fights had become a daily occurrence. Her father stayed away longer at work. Her mother would sit alone in the dark and cry. And when they were together, another world war would break out. Sara’s death had slowly crushed the souls of everyone in the Lance household.

            Laurel’s mother accepted a teaching position in Central City. A note and divorce papers explaining her reluctance to continue the charade of a family life arrived on the Lance family’s doorstep two weeks before Laurel was to leave for law school. From that day on Laurel was more likely to find her father at the bottom of a bottle than at work. Which is exactly where he should be right now.

            A message on the machine told her that Detective Hilton, her father’s partner, was covering for him in his absence, but his agitated voice made it clear that even he was at the end of his rope where Quentin was concerned. With a shake of her head, Laurel poured a mug of coffee and flicked on the small television that rested on the kitchen counter.

            “…he and an unknown female were seen exiting the Starling City terminal earlier today.”

            Laurel glanced up and a picture of Oliver Queen greeted her. The mug of hot liquid hit the floor, shattering at her feet. The scene was reminiscent of the one she went through when the Gambit went down. Only instead of saying that Oliver was gone, the announcer proudly gave the news that he was alive and coming home with some woman.

            “Laurel?”

            She turned to find her father stumbling toward her. “Sorry for the mess.”            

            Laurel opened a drawer and retrieved some towels to clean up the spilt coffee and broken mug. Her mind was frozen on one word. _Alive._

            “Baby girl? What happened?”

            Laurel held up a hand and waved him away. “Dad, stay back you don’t have shoes on.”

            “Then tell me what happened.” His voice would have sounded more menacing if his words weren’t slurred.

            “The realtor called me.” Laurel couldn’t tell him about Oliver. Not yet. Hell, she wasn’t sure if she could comprehend what she heard. “We need to get over to their offices before four to sign the ownership transfer papers.”

            “That’s not until Wednesday.” He waved away her comment as he leaned against the kitchen’s counter for support.

            “Today is Thursday,” she told him angrily. “The realtor tried to get a hold of you yesterday. Then she called me. I left a message that you were supposed to meet them in the morning. Only you didn’t show up. Again.”

            “I’m sorry, baby.” His face looked crestfallen and Laurel almost forgave him.

            “I’d believe you if this didn’t keep happening.” If she didn’t stay angry at him, she would give in and then he would still keep up with his present behavior.

            A knock sounded on the front door right as Laurel dumped the last traces of the broken mug into the trash. Laurel sent an exasperated look in her father’s direction before she went to answer the door he had no intension of opening.

            “No,” Laurel said the second she had the front door open. In shock, she closed it again on the faces of Oliver Queen and her sister, Sara, before she leaned back against the hard surface. It was the only thing keeping her upright in that moment.

            The door shook at her back as they knocked once more. Laurel closed her eyes and took a bracing breath.

            “Laurel, open the door,” Sara said from the other side.

            “I must be more drunk than I thought.” Quentin held his head as he approached. “I thought I heard Sara.”

            “Laurel, please.”

            Quentin’s face became fierce and he growled. “And that’s the bastard that killed her.”

            “Dad, it’s fine,” Laurel consoled him. “Go back and sit down. I’ll take care of this.”

            Quentin ignored her and grabbed the handle to the front door. Laurel’s happiest thought and worst nightmare confronted her and her father once he yanked it open, forcing Laurel out of the way.

            “Sara? Baby?” Quentin turned back to Laurel. “It’s Sara?”

            “Hi, Daddy.”

            Laurel watched her father grab Sara and hug her. You’d think her sister hadn’t died. That she hadn’t been gone for two years without any word. That she hadn’t disappeared with Laurel’s boyfriend with the way Sara casually hugged her dad back. Laurel’s eyes met Oliver’s. She’d seen him brooding before but the expression he held now was even more sullen.

            Oliver began to step away to leave Sara on their doorstep but Sara reached out and grasped his arm like a lifeline. Only Oliver shook her off before he left them alone. He’d returned the prodigal daughter and now he was running off like the coward he was.

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

           

            “I can’t do this,” Sara told Oliver a week later at Queen Consolidated. “And I’m not sure I want to either.”

            Oliver reached out and cupped her shoulders. “We’re supposed to go to court tomorrow. What do you mean you can’t do this? It’s not like we can run off now that our families know we are alive.”         

            “Why not? I mean I understand your family is probably thrilled to have you back but my dad? Laurel? My dad might be, but Laurel is far from happy at my return. And don’t even get me started on the phone call from hell with my mother.”

            Sara stepped out of his hands and shook her head. “My family has fallen apart, Ollie. Laurel blames me for you. My father has dived so deep into a bottle that it’ll take a miracle to get him back out. And my mom? My mom left and she has no chance of returning because she can’t deal with any of it.”            

            “What?” Oliver couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had no idea things had turned so serious with the Lance family. His own family had problems which he had yet to completely delve into, but Sara’s? That was a mess.

            Sara nodded. “She left. She went to Central City. Dad sold the house. He’s moving tonight into an apartment. Laurel refuses to even be in the same room as me. She desperate for the chance to head back to law school and escape from it all. So, why am I here?”

            Oliver watched Sara throw her hands up in the air in frustration. “Sara, calm down.” His words seemed to have the opposite effect as she stormed past him. He grabbed her arm. “Stop. I’m not going to chase you.”

            “You never had. Probably never will.” Sara stopped and faced him, her blue eyes flashed in anger. “Maybe if I never chased you to begin with we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

            “You can’t be serious.”

            “I am, Ollie. I told you back on Lian Yu about my crush. Because of Laurel’s obsessive need to be better than everyone else, which led to the fact that she had to have you. You. Not Tommy, who let’s face it, has always been much more her type.”

            “What’s Tommy have to do with any of this?”

            “You really have no idea where the two of them were last night, do you?” Sara didn’t even wait for an answer. “Tommy was at Laurel’s. I was on my way there last night at dad’s bequest to apologize to her and I saw the two of them climbing all over each other through her window.”

            Oliver stood there shocked and somewhat relieved despite the fact that it was the thought of reconnecting with Laurel the last two years that kept him alive. “They’re two consenting adults and we were dead.”

            Sara huffed and crossed her arm. She seemed like a petulant child. “That is so the old Ollie. Can’t even commit to being jealous.”

            “I’m not jealous.” Oliver shrugged. “If my two best friends are happy, then I’m happy for them.”

            The look Sara leveled at him could have sunk the Amazo. “You just carried her picture around all this time so that you couldn’t care less that Tommy was banging my sister? I bet that picture is still in your wallet right now.”

            Oliver glared back and pointed at her. “You were the one who told me that the picture was nothing more than an ideal. And you were right. I’m not about to put any blame on Laurel, or Tommy for that matter, for their actions when I can’t even begin to tell them what happened to me on Lian Yu.”

            “To both of us.” Sara posture relaxed and she stepped closer to him. “Maybe I’ll be okay so long as we both go through this together. We can’t leave the other behind. Not again.”

            “Um-hmm,” Oliver mumbled as Sara wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. He leaned down, closing his eyes, and kissed her forehead and from the way Sara reacted he knew she was hoping for more.

            “Excuse me,” a feminine voice murmured from behind Sara reminding Oliver that they were in an office full of people.

            Oliver opened his eyes and saw a petite blonde. She had a red pen trapped between her equally red lips. Probably because her hands were occupied with a mug, a tablet and a bunch of paperwork.

            Sara took note of Oliver’s distraction and lowered to her feet before retreating a step, then another. Oliver reached out to stop her a second before she crashed into the other blonde.

            “Sorry,” the woman apologized even when she was the one about to be knocked over. Her eyes rose to Oliver’s and he was amazed by the blueness of her eyes. It had been years since he even paid attention to anyone’s eyes. And yet, hers held him rooted to the spot. “You’re blocking the way to my office.”

            Oliver tore his gaze from hers and glanced behind him at the door. It held large block letters with the words IT Department. Slowly, he stepped out of the way and wrapped a hand around Sara’s arm so he could guide her to the side as well.

            For a moment, the blonde continued to stare at him, her brow creased as if confused by something. Was she seeing the darkness inside him? Oliver refused to back down from her steady gaze, even when she broke contact and shook her head. He felt like she had seen the real him, down to his soul and wanted nothing to do with it.

            He watched as she walked up to the door and stopped. When he noticed her juggling the items in her hands, he leapt forward to grasp the door handle. Pushing the door open for her, he let her enter.

            “Thank you.”

            “You’re welcome.” Oliver had his mouth open to say something else when the blonde kicked the door shut.

            Sara stood next to him and giggled. “Poor, Ollie.” Her hand reached out and stroked his arm. “Wasn’t a thank you enough?”

            “No. I…” The compulsion to open the door and demand an answer as to why he, Oliver Queen, in his family’s own company, felt inferior was strong. Turning his head to face Sara, Oliver said, “I’ll be right back.”

            His hand was on the handle and he was inside the door before he could even question his own decision. “Excuse me.”

            The blonde sat in front of her computer behind multiple screens and at his words she spun around to face him. The red pen was back in her mouth, if it had ever left at all. She slowly pulled it from between her lips and set it on the desk. “Can I help you?”

            “I wanted to introduce myself…”

            “You’re Oliver Queen.”

            “Yes.” Oliver felt somewhat deflated with the knowledge that she knew who he was.

            “Did you have a computer issue?”

            “No. I just…”

            The woman began to straighten her desk. “I’m actually really busy. So, if you don’t have a computer issue, do you mind?”

            “Sure, yeah.” Oliver pointed to the door. “Sorry about earlier. Sara and I…”

            The woman waved her hand dismissing whatever he was about to say. “It’s okay. Have a nice day, Mr. Queen.”

            “I’m not.” He hadn’t meant to say that as forcefully as it came out. Unfortunately, it came out exactly that way and by the wide eyed look on her face, she was startled.

            “What?” Her brow creased and she appeared confused. He couldn’t blame her.

            “Mr. Queen was my father.”

            “Yes, but he’s dead. I mean he drowned. I mean…” She shook her head in what appeared to be an effort to regain her thoughts. “Doesn’t matter because you didn’t come in here to listen to me babble. Which will end in three… two… one.”

            A grin split Oliver’s face. She was cute when she stumbled over her words, which was nice after he had done it so many times already in her presence. “Hey, if I do have a computer issue, how do I get in touch with you?”

            The blonde leaned across her desk toward a place that held business cards, which Oliver had not noticed before because he had been more fascinated by the woman behind the desk then the actual desk itself. She picked one up and held it out to him. “My number and extension are on there.”

            “I have a better idea.” Oliver reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cell phone. He snapped a picture of her sitting there and accepted the card. Static few from her fingers to his.

            Trying to regain some control of the whole meeting, Oliver winked at her. “This way I remember who…” Oliver glanced down at the card in his hand. “Who Felicity Smoak is.”

            “Yeah, you wouldn’t want to get an IT girl mixed up with every other woman you’ve slept with,” she mumbled to herself just loud enough for him to hear. And frankly, he wasn’t sure if that was intentional.

            “Excuse me?”       

            She sent him a beautiful smile that he had every doubt was sincere and shook her head. “Nothing. Have a nice day, Mr. … Oliver.”

           

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            A few days later, Oliver was startled when his phone chimed during a meeting with his mother. Pulling it out of pocket in his suit jacket, he noticed it was an email. While the email was unfamiliar he was certain of who sent it by the address. _Felicity Smoak_.

            Curious, Oliver excused himself and walked out of the boardroom to read the email. The only message he saw was the words; _This was buried in the server._ An attachment was the only thing else. Opening it, Oliver was surprised to find his father’s face. It was a video his father made, probably before he went out on the Gambit all that time ago. And Oliver was happy that he had stepped away to watch it the second the video was over. It wasn’t something that anyone else should see.

            Oliver leaned back against the wall for support. At least now he knew what the notebook was about. More than that, his dad had given him a purpose. A reason for coming back home.

            _Had Felicity watched the video?_ That question haunted him the rest of the meeting. Or at least enough of it until he was able to excuse himself to slip away without too many questions. The second he was free, he strode for the elevator to finally discover the answer to his own question.

            He was disappointed to find her desk empty when he walked through the open door of her office. Oliver might have left if he hadn’t heard the crackle of electricity. Or the sound of pain that followed.

            Going around the desk, Oliver found Felicity laying on the floor by one of the servers with wires and some sort of heat gun. One of her fingers was buried between her now bright pink lips. “Are you okay?”

            “Yelp.” The finger fell from her mouth and her hand went to her chest. “Did I seriously just yelp?”

            Oliver nodded, a smile breaking his lips apart despite how desperately he tried to hold it back.

            “Frack! Ow!” she shrieked as she pounded her head on the desk as she tried to stand.

            “You hurt yourself.” Oliver crouched down next to her. “Let me see.”

            “Was there a medical school on that island?” she asked with narrowed eyes as she rubbed her head with her injured hand.

            “No. But you’d be surprised how many times I had to take care of my own wounds.”

            “How many?” She stopped and her eyes met his. They held a spark of interest. And not one where he felt uncomfortable as he usually did when questions about the island came up.

            “Too many to talk about,” he avoided. “Let me see your head.” When she shook her head with a painful grimace, he insisted, “Fine. Let me see your finger then.”

            She held it out to him. “I burned it with the soldering gun. It was a stupid mistake. I was trying to fix the loose wire.”

            He turned her hand over so he could inspect the burn. “It’s not too bad but you should probably soak it in some cool water for a while and wrap it up with some aloe.”

            “And take two aspirin and call you in the morning?” she teased. “Any other medical advice, Dr. Queen?”

            Oliver couldn’t help but grin at her antics. He reached out and began to take her face into his hand when his phone chose that moment to ring. “Shit.”

            Dropping his hand, he rose and grabbed for his phone. Felicity seemed to take his distraction as time to escape. He watched her run through the door before he glanced downward. His mother was calling. “Hi, mom.”

            “Where are you?” his mother demanded.

            “Something came up. I should be back up in about ten minutes.”

            “Make it five, Oliver. This meeting is important.”

            Oliver hung up and searched around for a pen and paper. It was the best he could hope for since he couldn’t say bye to Felicity herself. He finished his note when Felicity walked back in. “I was leaving you a note.”

            She crossed her arms and her eyes narrowed. “Why are you still here?”

            “I received your email. I wanted to know if you watched it.” Despite the fact that it was the truth, Oliver knew his words sounded lame.

            “No, I didn’t watch it.” Felicity lowered her arms and walked around him to her chair. He noticed the small strip of gauze that covered her injured finger. “I was combing the servers and I found some personal files your father had buried. I was going to forward it to my boss but after we met the last time, I thought it was simpler to send it to you. There was also one addressed to Thea. And before you ask, I didn’t watch that one either.”

            “Did you send it to Thea?”

            “No. I was going to email you tomorrow thinking you would have seen the email by then and ask you if I should.” Felicity picked up her red pen and tapped it on the desk. “I didn’t want to upset her if I didn’t have to.”

            “Forward it to me. I’ll send it to her.” He wanted to watch it before he did. As Felicity said, there was no point in upsetting his sister if they didn’t have to. And after the video he watched he wanted to make sure that it was a simple message and not something as demanding as the one Oliver received.

            “I guess.” Felicity turned in her chair and began to type. Within seconds, Oliver’s phone chimed with her email.

            “Thank you,” Oliver told her. “I need to get back. I’m already late.”

            “You’re welcome.”

            Oliver went to the door, but Felicity still avoided his gaze. With a light tap of the door, he got it. “Take care of that finger and your head too. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to take those aspirin you suggested.”

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            Felicity wasn’t sure how to take Oliver Queen. He came off as the playboy billionaire he liked to portray, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t. To most people he was careless, reckless and uncaring about how his reputation affected others. This was most prominent whenever she spotted him on television. But when he was next to her, he might come off as confrontational but he was also caring and, more than that, an enigma. And Felicity hated puzzles.

            She knew she hadn’t imagined the incident in her office. Felicity could swear that he had been about to kiss her. His eyes had locked with hers before they dropped to her lips. When he began to lean in while his hand reached to cup her face, Felicity’s first instinct had been to run. And yet, like any other stupid woman in the city, she also wanted to know what his lips on hers would feel like.

            In fact, her dreams over the past week had been haunted by what could have happened had Moira Queen not chosen that moment to call her son back to whatever meeting he had stepped away from. It was funny because there was no reality where she and Oliver Queen were even in the same sphere so her day and nighttime dreams were more like a fantasy that was beyond unreachable.

            Dismissing her wayward thoughts, Felicity flopped down on her couch and flicked on her television. She had wanted nothing more than to enjoy her Chinese takeout and watch the news when a breaking news story came on. A sketch of a man in a hood was featured predominately on her screen. Apparently, a vigilante had made his way to Starling City.

            A shiver ran down her spine. The thought of a man running around killing and torturing criminals was frightening. Especially, as she hadn’t quite given up the hobby of hacking, even if she barely did it anymore.

            Not wanting to hear anymore, Felicity switched the channel. Maybe if she was lucky she’d find a Doctor Who or Twilight Zone episode and she could attribute the recent news to some sort of weird fantasy her subconscious dreamed up. Hell, she’d even take a Supernatural episode about now. All she could come up with that held any interest was Downton Abbey. It was the best she could do, even if she hadn’t quite caught up on the most recent season.

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            “Ollie? What are you doing?”

            Oliver glanced up from the dining room where he sat alone inside the Queen Mansion. Thea had left for school. His mother was at Queen Consolidated at some meeting with Walter Steele. Yet, now he was no longer alone with his thoughts. “Eating brunch.”

            “No. I mean out there.” Sara pointed outside the house as she made herself comfortable in one of the other chairs.

            “What do you mean?”

            Sara crossed her arms on the table across from him. “You honestly think I don’t know? A guy out there wearing a green hood, Shado’s hood, with a bow and arrow.” Sara studied him and leaned forward to swipe a piece of bacon from his plate. She popped a piece of it in her mouth and groaned in pleasure. “God, I missed Raisa. And bacon.”

            Oliver smiled at her. “You and me both.”

            Waving the rest of her bacon at him, Sara resumed her glaring. “You’re doing an excellent job at avoiding my original question.”

            “You already seem to think you know the answer, so why are you asking?”

            “I want in,” Sara told him.

            “No.” There was no way in hell Oliver was going to ever put Sara into danger again.

            “You wouldn’t have said no if I was Laurel.”

            “If you were Laurel, this wouldn’t even be a conversation.” Oliver gathered his plate and silverware and turned to head to the kitchen.

            Sara caught up to him and blocked his path. “Please, Ollie. You don’t even understand how crazy it is at Dad’s apartment. My only saving grace is that Laurel went back to school.” Sara rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Not that I didn’t have an hour long lecture from her about doing something with my life before she left. So, see, you would be helping me. Laurel would be thrilled.”

            “No.”

            “C’mon, Ollie.” She battered her lashes at him. “Please.”

            “How does that even work on your father?”

            “I’m his baby,” Sara said with a smile.

            “Fine.”

            Sara squealed and threw her arms around his neck. Oliver only moved the plate in the nick of time so he wouldn’t be wearing it when she did. “You won’t regret this.”

            “I already do.”

            “Well, too bad, because as your partner I have Intel.”

            Oliver pushed her back and stared at her in all seriousness. “What is it?”

            “My dad is trying to put together an anti-vigilante task force.”

            Oliver shook his head. “And you still want in?”

            “Hell, yes.” Sara nodded. She looked like he had given her the world on the proverbial platter. “It’s either help you or be driven slowly insane by my parents.”

            Oliver walked around her. “You’ll need to train. Slade Wilson captured you way too easily.”

            “He was on Mirakuru. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight,” Sara argued as she followed him into the kitchen.

            Oliver shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Fighting isn’t about being fair. If the enemy has the element of surprise you need to know what to do to escape.”

            “So, teach me.”

            “Fine. Let me do this and we’ll start.”

            It wasn’t twenty minutes later when the two of them were on their way to the foundry on Oliver’s motorcycle. Sara took in the old steel foundry and a whistle escaped her lips.

            “I would have never expected a place like this for your base of operations.”

            “That the exact reason I chose it.”

            Oliver walked her through the damaged and dusty building to the basement door. Keying in the code, Oliver lead Sara through the door.

            Sara glanced around as they descended the stairs. She seemed impressed by what he had accomplished thus far. Her hand ghosted over the keyboard of the lone computer. When Sara turned to face him with the mischievous smile on her face, he wanted to rub his head at the headache that began to form.

            “Couldn’t get the cute blond from the IT Department to set up your system?”

            “What are you talking about?”

            Sara’s eyes sparkled with laugher. “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

            “What does Felicity have to do with any of this?” Oliver waved his hands around to indicate his secret space. “It’s not like I can advertise what I’m doing.”

            “Felicity, huh?” Sara reached around him and picked his pocket. “I bet she’s on here.” She flicked through the contacts on his phone. “Ooh. It even has a picture.”

            Oliver could feel his cheeks heat as Sara held up his phone to show him Felicity’s picture. “It’s no big deal. It was that day I was arguing with you about staying. I wanted to remember who she was.” When Sara’s smile grew bigger, Oliver told her, “Because of what my mother wants me to do with Queen Consolidated.”

            Sara threw his phone back at him and crossed her arms. “Name the last ten women you slept with.”

            “What? Why ten?”

            “As Laurel would say, I am trying to prove my case. Names, Ollie.” Sara crossed her arms and sat on the edge of the desk.

            “You. Shado.”

            “Shado? I knew there had to be more there. Slade had to be jealous for a reason.” Sara waved at him. “Keep going.”

            “Laurel. Sa…”Oliver crinkled his brow as he tried to remember the name of the woman who almost ruined his whole world. “Samantha. And…”

            “And?”

            Oliver walked over and kicked out the chair by the computer turning it around so he could straddle it. “And this is pointless.”

            Sara laughed. “You honestly can’t remember. You haven’t even come up with half.” Sara stood and leaned back against the desk. “Okay, let me see if I can do better. There’s me, Laurel, Shado, Samantha, Corrie, Heather, Mandy, Stephanie, her best friend, Candy, which I believe were at the same time, and Rachel.”

            “How do you know that?” Oliver was genuinely confused because he couldn’t even remember half those women, let alone their names.

            “Crush, remember? Laurel might not have been paying attention but I was.” Sara jumped back on the desk and Oliver had to reach out to catch the monitor so that it didn’t fall. “Okay. Describe Samantha since at least you remember her name.”

            “She’s brunette and…”

            Sara smiled and laughed. “That’s the best you can do? She’s brunette?”

            Oliver smiled up at her. “She went to school with Laurel.”

            “Pssh! Most of the girls you dated went to school with Laurel.” Sara inspected one of her nails. “Fine. What does Felicity look like? And no cheating by looking at your phone.”

            “I don’t have to look at my phone,” Oliver told her proud of himself only to realize it was a trap. “No. I’m not going to do it.”

            Oliver went and flicked on the computer desperate for something to do. Sharpening arrowheads sounded awfully fun in that moment.

            “So, you’re telling me you can’t describe her either.”

            “I can.”

            “Tell me.”

            Oliver stood and threw the chair at the desk. “Fine. She’s blonde. She wears her hair in a ponytail that hits just below her shoulders. Her glasses are black and red and they make her blue eyes look huge. She’s sweet and funny. And she has a tendency to chew on red pens.” Oliver noted the biggest smile on Sara’s face then he had ever seen. “What? I answered your question.”     

           “Too well. All you told me about Samantha, a woman you slept with, was that she was brunette.”

            “In my defense, I haven’t seen Samantha in more than two years. Two years that I spent in hell.”

            “True, but I bet you I could ask you two years from now the same question and I would still be able to get the same answers about Felicity. While, I could have asked you a week after you slept with Samantha and you probably would have still told me she was brunette.”

            Frustrated with Sara and himself, Oliver stormed over to his trunk. “I thought we were here to train.”

            “Avoidance, a genuine Ollie trait,” Sara teased as she hopped down from the desk. “Gotta admit that Lian Yu didn’t change you all that much when it comes to women.”

            Oliver threw some bamboo sticks at her and grabbed some for himself. “Enough talking. It distracts you from what you need to learn.”

            Sara’s laughter followed and haunted him long after he brought her back home later that night. There was no way she could be right. Felicity didn’t mean anything to him.

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            Felicity was at the Starling City Bank helping a friend who was the security IT Director when the alarms began to sound. The bank was being robbed.

            “If we stay back here and lock the door, they’ll never know we are here,” Gary told her as he huddled under his desk. “The police should be here soon.”

            “Shouldn’t we do something?” Felicity glanced at the door before going to lock it.

            “No, just make sure it is locked and get under the other desk. Hurry.”

            “Some gentleman,” Felicity mumbled under her breath as she grabbed the lock.

            A shadow passed the door before Felicity could set the lock. If she had seen whoever it was, they were sure to have seen her as well. _Frack_! She was about to finally turn the lock when the door edged open.

            The first thing she saw was the bow because she hadn’t been brave enough to raise her eyes to the person about to attack her. Her head snapped up and the man in the hood mentioned on the news stood before her.

            His chin was covered in a five o’clock shadow of blonde hair, but his eyes were hidden in shadow by the grease paint that was around his eyes and the hood. His whole body seemed to tense the second he saw her.

            “Get out,” he growled at her through some sort of voice modulation device. “Go out the back door. No one’s out there yet.” His deep voice sent a shiver of fear down Felicity’s spine. And yet it calmed her as well. Which was strange on a level that Felicity didn’t have time to think about.

            “Thank you.”

            He nodded at her. “Hurry.”

            Felicity turned back, as the vigilante grabbed her arm. “Come on, Gary. Let’s get out of here.”

            The man rose on shaky legs. “Are you sure we can trust him? He might shoot an arrow in our backs the second we turn around. We don’t even know that he isn’t the one here to rob the bank.”

            “Don’t tempt me,” the vigilante threatened. He turned to the hallway, dropping his hand from Felicity when the sound of a gunshot blasted through the air. “Change of plans. Stay here. Lock and barricade the door if you can. I’ll be back for you.”

            The hood disappeared down the hall on practically silent feet. Felicity began to follow his orders when Gary pushed past her.

            “We have to get out of here,” he told her with wild eyes.

            “He said to stay put,” Felicity told him calmly. A calm that was only there because the vigilante assured her he’d be back.

            Gary glared at her. “Stay then, but I’m getting the hell out of here. He’s no safer than the people robbing the bank. Maybe worse.” Gary pointed in the direction the hood left. “I know he’s a killer. The people robbing the bank? They probably only want the money. Once they have it, they could care less about the rest of us.”

            Felicity didn’t watch Gary leave. She closed the door the second he left and locked it. As she was doing her best to slide the metal desk in front of the door a gunshot and a scream had her jump. With her last bit of strength, she slid the desk as far as she could and went to hide under Gary’s wooden desk.

            She had no idea how long she waited there. Felicity had accidently left her watch on her nightstand that morning and her phone was on top of the metal desk inside her purse. She was thankful she had placed it on vibrate before she entered the bank.

            A knock sounded on the door and Felicity tensed. “Are you still in there?”

            The Hood. Felicity rose from her spot only to have to hold on to the desk for support when she realized her legs had fallen asleep. “I’m here.”

            “Thank God. Can you open the door?”

            “I put a desk in front of it. It’ll be a minute.” Felicity found the desk much heavier to push away now that the adrenaline of having to hide was gone. “I can barely move it.”

            “Move,” he demanded.

            Felicity ran for the corner of the room by the servers. His bow shattered the glass above the door and Felicity realized how vulnerable she still had been. A green arm reached in and unlocked the door. He pushed at it and the door barely opened.

            Felicity saw and heard his body connect with the door as he rushed at it. The full weight of his body pushed at the desk enough for him to enter and a minute later he towered over her.

            “Are you okay?”

            Felicity nodded unable to say anything past the lump in her throat.

            “Let’s get you out of here.”

            His arm encircled her waist as his other hand held the bow that had killed people. He kicked back the desk with a strength Felicity envied and he led her through the door. She kept up with his quick steps as he led her to the back door where he once told her to escape through. A body covered by a trash bag lay there. Felicity recognized the pants and shoes. “Gary?”

            “I warned you to stay put. Apparently, he didn’t listen.” The Hood drew her around the body, his own between hers and Gary’s as if trying to protect her from the gruesomeness of death. “The police should be here any second.”

            “Thank you.”

            A smile formed on his face and he looked like he was about to say something when a black clad woman in a mask approached. “We have to go. The police already entered the bank.”

            The Hood nodded and notched an arrow. For a moment, Felicity was scared that Gary might have been right. But the woman moved to his side and grabbed a hold of his waist as he raised the bow to aim at the top of the nearest building. The second the arrow connected the two were pulled up by a wire that had come out of the arrow.

            Felicity barely remembered what happened next as officers discovered her in the alleyway. She had to go to the station to give her statement. A Detective Lance was not happy when she told them that the Hood had actually saved her.

 

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            “Just had to save Felicity,” Sara said as they landed on the bank’s roof.

            “I would have saved the other guy too if he listened.”

            “And Felicity.”

            “Fine. I had to save Felicity,” Oliver admitted.

            “Exactly,” Sara said with a smile and a laugh. “And I have a feeling that won’t be the last time anyone hears that.”

           

OQFSOQFSOQFS

 

            A loud beep echoed around the lair. Felicity jumped as she was broken out of the story Quentin had been telling her.

            “I guess your analysis is done,” Quentin noted.

            “Yeah.” Felicity rose from her chair and walked slowly over to the other set of computers. “You have to be kidding me.”       

            “What is it?” Quentin asked as he joined her.

            Felicity didn’t get a chance to answer as Oliver entered the lair through the elevator still dressed in his suit from his day job. With a flick of the switch, Felicity had the monitor turn off. Oliver would have to know what was going on but by the look on his face, now was not the time.

            “What’s going on?” Oliver asked them as he approached. “Any results?”

            “No,” Felicity quickly answered thankful that Quentin hadn’t seen. “I probably need to run more tests.”

            “You look tired,” Oliver noted. “You want to head out and grab some dinner?”

            Which was code for that was exactly what Oliver wanted. “It has been a long day.”

            “Go. I’ll watch over the place,” Quentin told them. “It’s not like I haven’t done it before.”

            “You’ll be okay?” Oliver asked him. His expression indicated that he wasn’t sure it was the best of ideas.

            “It’s not like you have a stocked bar down here,” Quentin teased.

            Felicity bit back her smile as Oliver walked over to the drawer where John kept the whiskey. Oliver tucked it under his arm. “Just in case, I think we’ll take this with us.” Oliver pointed at Lance. “Call us if anything happens.”

            “Will do.”

            Oliver laid an arm over Felicity’s shoulders. “You ready?”

            “Um-hmm.” Felicity turned back to Quentin and pointed to the computers she left on. “Those will tell you if anything is going on. Leave the others and I will come back and retest the evidence when I get back.”

            “No problem.” Quentin went over and plopped down on the chair that Felicity vacated.

            When Oliver and Felicity were in the elevator, Oliver set down the whiskey and took her face between his hands, kissing her softly. “I needed that.”

            Felicity smiled up at him. “I did too.”

            “Glad we’re on the same page.” Oliver picked the whiskey back up as the doors opened. “So, where do want to eat? We can head back to your place and I can make something if you want to eat in.”            

            “Oh, Frack!”

            “What?” Oliver stared at her in concern when they exited the elevator. “What happened? Do we need to head back down?”

            “No. It’s my mother,” Felicity told him as she frantically searched for her phone in her purse. “She’s been stalking Quentin and I have to talk to her.”

            Oliver pushed her hand down the second she found her phone. “After dinner.”

            “But…”      

            “We’ll both head over to your place, _after dinner_ , and talk to her. Quentin’s fine. He’s in the bunker. She won’t find him there.” Oliver pocketed her phone and stepped into the space that separated them. “For once, let’s just be us. Not a brother or a daughter or a vigilante or a mayor or a hacker. Us. Together. Like we were in Ivy Town.”

            Felicity smiled up at him. “I think I can do that.”

            A smile broke out over his face. “Good, because if you didn’t I had other ways of making you agree.”

            “Do tell. Does it involve an arrow?”     

        “No,” he whispered in her ear. “But you’ll have to get in the car to find out.”    

            “Race you.”

            Oliver looked down at her heels. “I’ll win.”

            “Wanna bet?” Felicity teased him with a smile before she took off running.

 

**THE** **END**

**Author's Note:**

> Look for Lyla's story coming up next. I promise it won't be long before this installment is posted. It has already been sent out to my beta.


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